Several manufacturers offer pre installed pet doors. I haven't used one but I can't imagine they are very complex or problematic.

As it turns out, the Jeld-Wen Patio Slider, with the built in dog door, is only available on their 72 inch unit, we have a 108 inch opening. We are now looking at Champion and they are coming out to give us a quote in two days. My concern is that most of what I've read about Champion does not sound very good to me. Mostly I'm concerned about the U-Factor and the quality of the install.

I am a real novice at this, but this forum, and your responses, have been very helpful. Today we put the computer down and went to one of our local full-service lumber yards. They confirmed that we can get the Jeld-Wen 72 inch door and add a deadlite pane to come up with a 108 door. Thank you for suggesting this.

Also, the Champion rep came today to give us a quote on their slider with a dog door. Again, thanks to this forum I was prepared for much of what he had to say. His price seems high, even with the 20% promotion, 7% discount for allowing a sign in our yard, plus another 5% discount because they are having an open house this weekend. There was no pressure to sign a contract now as other posters have mentioned.

From what I've read, neither the Champion or Jeld-Wen vinyl sliding patio doors are the best available, but the dog door option is one of our most wanted options. But it looks like we will need to decide between these two as I have not been able to find any others that come with a built-in dog door.

You may be better suited to get the better door at the end of the day and put the pet door in the wall.

We did think about this, though we have a brick house and my understanding is that it would be very expensive to cut an opening for a door.

Comparing the Jeld-Wen and the Champion, our research suggest that the Champion door is much better. Champion's quote is about $3300, down from a list price of $4800, and the info on this forum suggest that they can come down to about $2500. If we can can get it down to the $2800 range I think we will go with it.

Cutting brick is not that big a deal and especially on that small an opening. I would probably be pretty cute looking too if trimmed out nicely with brick molding and finish work.

I am never a big fan of a company that will drop their price from $4,800, to $3,300, to $2,800/$2,500.

Seems disingenuous and outright manipulative at the end of the day. I would look at other brands.

What you are requiring is not that rare and several people make them.

Well the discussion with my wife about cutting an opening in the wall took less then 30 seconds, it looks like this option is off of the table.

As far as Champion's pricing, I went into this fully aware of what to expect. I agree with you 100% and would rather do away with the artificial pricing routine. But as I mentioned earlier, after reviewing several posts on this forum, I have a good idea of what a fair price to counter offer with.

If you, or anyone else, can name any other companies that offer built-in pet doors, I would like to know what they are.

In 2010, we were going to replace all of our windows and Sunrise Restorations were on my short list. Long story cut short, our furnace went out and we had to spend the money on that instead. I have only checked their website, along with that of many others, and don't see a pet door option. Should I call them? Is this something that they or others might do on a custom basis?

I contacted both Sunrise and Polaris, neither company is able to customize a pet door install. One of our local full-serve lumber yards did check with Marvin and it looks like they can add the pet door for us. From what I see online, it looks like Marvin only has clad doors, any thoughts about vinyl versus clad?

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